Device for tapering the ends of substantially cylindrical cigar bunches



DEVICE FOR TAPERING THE -ENDS OF SUBSTANTIALLY CYLINDRIGAL CIGAR BUNCHES Filed May '7, 1965 Feb. 20, 1968 s. E. oLFssoN 3,369,554

DCXXXXXXXXX XXlS/YXXX/YXXX f United States Patent Ofliice 3,369,554 Patented Feb. 20, 1968 3,369,554 DEVICE FOR TAPERING THE ENDS F SUBSTAN- TIALLY CYLINDRICAL CIGAR BUNCHES Stig Ernst Olofsson, Enebyberg, Sweden, assignor to Arenco Aktiebolag, Vallingly, Sweden Filed May 7, 1965, Ser. No. 453,975 Claims priority, application Sweden, June 1, 1964 ,640/64 4 Claims. (Cl. 13l92) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for transforming the end portions of substantially cylindrical cigar bunches into a tapered shape, comprising a pusher element having the shape of a pointed screw, means to move said pusher element into the end portion of a bunch and then withdraw said pusher element, means to rotate said pusher element in a direction in which the tobacco filler is pushed by the front flank of the thread of the screw axially inwards and obliquely towards the periphery of said bunch, an end forming device, and means to momentarily press said end forming device against said pretreated end portion of said bunch.

The present invention relates to a device for reforming ends of substantially cylindrical cigar bunches into a tapered shape, by means of a rotating pointed screw which is mounted so that it can be displaced reciprocally coaxially with a bunch secured in a holder and which by means of an actuating mechanism is pressed into and withdrawn out of said bunch, and a forming device mounted in a corresponding matter, which in a subsequent working operation is momentarily pressed towards the end portion of the bunch.

In a known device, a screw having a right hand thread is used, which screw is rotated clockwise so that a portion of the filler in the end portion of the bunch is drilled out of said bunch. The object hereby is to remove such a suitable amount of the filler that subsequent to pressing the ends of the bunch into a tapered shape, the same amount of filler per unit volume is obtained in the end portion of the bunch as obtained in the remaining portion of said bunch. One disadvantage with such a device is that hard tobacco particles of the filler, such as stalk and vein portions, when withdrawn out of the bunch by the screw, can carry with them a large or small portion of the filler intended to be included in the end portion of the bunch. Similarly such hard particles can fasten on the screw and cause a sequence of bunches to be damaged. Further, the screw causes an undesirable tearing to pieces of the tobacco particles in the end portion of the bunch.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of the type stated, in which the above mentioned inconveniences are avoided. The arrangement according to the invention is characterized substantially in that the threads of the screw have a pitch so directed that a portion of the tobacco filler of the end portion of the bunch is distributed inwardly and towards the periphery of the bunch when the screw is pressed into the end portion of the bunch. The screw does not function as a drill but as a transporting device, by means of which the tobacco in the end portion of the hunch is packed inwardly and towards the periphery of the bunch so that a zone of harder packed tobacco is obtained quite close to the point of the screw. Hard tobacco particles are hereby pressed towards the zone comprising harder packed tobacco whereby the possibility of such hard particles causing damage to the filler at the end portion of the hunch is effectively prevented. Nor can such hard particles fasten on the screw. A further advantage is that small loose particles of tobacco are fed into the bunch by the screw so that the mouth end of the completed cigar is substantially free from such loose particles of tobacco. In order to obtain the most suitable distribution of tobacco, it is advantageous if the front flank of the screw thread forms an angle of at least 60 with the longitudinal direction of the screw, since otherwise the tobacco may be packed too hard towards the periphery of said zone. In order to facilitate distribution of tobacco by the screw, it is also suitable that the point of the screw be somewhat chisel-shaped, for example has square cross section.

The zone consisting of hard packed tobacco has not proved to carry any disadvantages with respect to the completed cigar, rather to the contrary. The zone serves as a filter, and furthermore it is situated at that part of the cigar where it is held, and where it is thus advantageous for the tobacco to be packed harder.

Due to the fact that tobacco in the end portion of the bunch has previously been very unevenly packed with regards to hardness, it has been necessary to use a forming device having movable jaws in order to satisfactorily compress the ends of the bunch into a tapered shape. By means of the invention it is possible to use a simpler forming device consisting of a rigid forming body arranged to be pressed towards the end portion of the bunch without rotation of the same in relation to the bunch.

The invention is more closely described in the following with reference to the attached diagrammatic drawing, whereby FIG. 1 shows a plan view of one embodiment partly in section, and FIG. 2 shows in section a detail of FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a mounting plate 1 which is attached to two arms 2 and 3 reciprocatingly moved by a mechanism, not shown. The mounting plate 1 supports a motor 4, upon a shaft 5 of which a pusher element comprising a left hand threaded screw 6 is fixedly mounted and rotated clockwise by the motor. The mounting plate 1 further supports a forming device 7 provided with a recess 8 corresponding to the intended tapered shape, and a winding 9 for electrically heating the bunch ends during the forming operation. The bunches are fed stepwise in the direction indicated by an arrow on a conveyor 10, pass the screw and the forming device, and are retained coaxially with these by appropriate means, not shown, during both working operations. In the position shown on the drawing, the mounting plate 1 is in its fartherrnost protruding position, and the screw 6 is pressed into a bunch 11, the end of which is hereby suitably, in a manner known per se, surrounded by supporting jaws or the like, not shown, in order to prevent the end of the bunch from being expanded when the screw is inserted. A bunch 12, which has been provided with a recess during a previous working operation by means of the screw 6, is positioned in front of the forming device 7 which on the forward movement of the plate 1 is pressed towards the end of the bunch and has formed it to the intended tapered shape. In order to facilitate penetrating of the screw 6 into the bunch and the distribution of the tobacco, the point 13 of the screw has a square cross section. Further, the front flank 15 of the thread 14 forms an angle of 60 (FIG. 2) to the longitudinal direction of the screw so that normal force from the thread, directed at right angles to the flank, becomes directed predominantly in the longitudinal direction of the bunch. The angle can also be larger.

With a constant bunch diameter of 13.4 mm. the penetrating of the screw is conveniently 25 mm., the largest active diameter of the screw is 9 mm. the tapering angle of the screw at the larger end is 22.5, the pitch of the thread 4.5 mm. and the height of the thread 1.0 mm.

The device according to the invention can obviously be so designed that both ends of a cigar bunch are worked upon at the same time. The invention is also usable with cigar bunches which are not completely cylindrical but I more or less conical or biconical.

What is claimed is: 1. A device for transforming the end portions of substantially cylindrical cigar bunches into a tapered shape,

comprising a pusher element having the shape of a pointed screw with a thread thereon, conveyor means for positioning a cigar bunch in a position coaxial with said pusher element, reciprocating support means mounting said pusher element, to move said pusher element into the end portion of the bunch and to withdraw same and, simultaneously, means to rotate said pusher element in a direction in which the tobacco filler in the end portion of said bunch engaged by a front flank of the thread of the screw is pushed axially inwards and obliquely towards the periphery' of said bunch when said pusher element is pressed into the end portion of said bunch, a forming device mounted on said reciprocating support means and having a tapered recess provided therein, said conveyor means positioning said pretreated bunch in a position coaxial with said recess in the said forming device, and said, reciprocating support means momentarily pressing said forming device against said pretreated end portion of said bunch whereby an end of the pretreated bunch is received within said recess to form the tapered shape on the end portion of the cigar bunch.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the point of said pusher element has a square cross section.

3. A device according to claim 1 wherein the front fiankof said thread forms an angle of at least 60 to the longitudinal axis of said pusher element.

4. A device according to claim 1 wherein said forming device comprises a non-rotating, rigid forming body mounted beside said pusher element and actuated by said reciprocating support means for axially moving said pusher element, and said forming device further including a heating means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS r 948,646 2/1910 Carter 131-92 2,277,690 3/ 1942 Clausen 13l-29 3,205,899 9/1965 Ackermann 131-23 HUGH R. CHAMBLEE, Primary Examiner. 

